Privacy notices - People and Communities

Privacy notice – children’s centres

North Somerset Early Help via Children’s Centres aim to improve access to services (both universal and targeted) for children and their parents or carers. The services provided from Early Help via Children’s Centres, aim to support families to understand and make effective changes that ultimately improve their family’s health and wellbeing.

Find more information about Early Help via Children’s Centres offer on our website.

If you and your family might benefit from the support available, the Early Help via Children’s Centres will gather relevant information from you to help ensure you receive the right support at the right time.

What information we collect

Your family’s personal details - this would include

full names of everyone in your household
dates of birth
gender
full address and contact details (telephone and email)
your ethnicity
religion
any disabilities or additional health needs
contact details of your GP
any other service supporting your family
relationship status
languages spoken.

It is important to have details of both parents/carers, whether you live together or not.

Research shows both parents make a difference to children, and we may from time to time offer services for separated families as well as new partners living in the household. We may also ask you to describe your family’s needs and the support that may assist.

Why we collect this information

The information will be used for the administration of Early Help via Children’s Centres. It will be used to:

monitor the use of children’s centres / North Somerset Council’s early help services
- this includes numbers of referrals, attendance at groups and numbers of families accessing family support
collate thematic reasons for providing support within specific geographical areas to allow us to plan a service based on community need
improve the health, development and well-being of babies, young children and adolescents in North Somerset
improve the health and wellbeing of parents and carers in North Somerset

Lawful basis for collecting this data

Age of Data Subject	Lawful basis	How the data collection fits into the lawful basis
Children under the age of 5	Article 6(1)(c) “processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.”	For children under the age of 5 it is our statutory duty to collect information to demonstrate to the Local Authority and Department of Education how we are making a difference to the outcomes for children under 5 in our community. This is under the Childcare Act 2006 and the Sure Start Children’s Centre Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities, commissioners of Local Health Services and Job Centre Plus 2013. More information on this can be found in the Children's Centres guidance document.
Children and adults over the age of 5	Articles 6(1)(e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller”, and	The processing of this personal data fits the lawful basis of public task as it is considered necessary to enable us to carry out our tasks, functions, duties or powers or to perform a task carried out in the public interest. This processing of data is doing this by improving the well-being of young children as well as the parents and carers and providing helping to provide a plan based on community need.
Both children under the age of 5 and children and adults over the age of 5	GDPR Article 9(2)(g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of union or member state law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and interests of the data subject	For the special category data processed under Article 9(2)(g) the processing of special category data aims to improve the well-being of young children as well as the parents and carers and providing helping to provide a plan based on community need. We also rely on schedule 1, part 2, paragraphs 18 and 19 “18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk” and “19. Safeguarding of economic well-being of certain individuals” which is of substantial public interest.

Age of Data Subject

Lawful basis

How the data collection fits into the lawful basis

Children under the age of 5

Article 6(1)(c) “processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.”

For children under the age of 5 it is our statutory duty to collect information to demonstrate to the Local Authority and Department of Education how we are making a difference to the outcomes for children under 5 in our community.

This is under the Childcare Act 2006 and the Sure Start Children’s Centre Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities, commissioners of Local Health Services and Job Centre Plus 2013.

More information on this can be found in the Children's Centres guidance document.

Children and adults over the age of 5

Articles 6(1)(e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller”, and

The processing of this personal data fits the lawful basis of public task as it is considered necessary to enable us to carry out our tasks, functions, duties or powers or to perform a task carried out in the public interest.

This processing of data is doing this by improving the well-being of young children as well as the parents and carers and providing helping to provide a plan based on community need.

Both children under the age of 5 and children and adults over the age of 5

GDPR Article 9(2)(g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of union or member state law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and interests of the data subject

For the special category data processed under Article 9(2)(g) the processing of special category data aims to improve the well-being of young children as well as the parents and carers and providing helping to provide a plan based on community need.

We also rely on schedule 1, part 2, paragraphs 18 and 19 “18. Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk” and “19. Safeguarding of economic well-being of certain individuals” which is of substantial public interest.

We may anonymise some personal data you provide to us to ensure that you cannot be identified and use this data to allow the council to target and plan the provision of services effectively. For example, we may use statistics/numbers relating to ethnicity of families to measure reach of services to ensure we are reaching the whole community.

In some cases, the council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do, such as safeguarding or to provide statistical data to other local authority departments. In these circumstances, you will be notified of this change in processing.

We may also share personal information with the council’s safeguarding team and our multi-agency safeguarding partners, which includes Avon and Somerset Police, if we consider there to be there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

How we collect your information

We collect your information when you request support from Early Help via Children’s Centre, or register to become a member of your local children’s centre.

We may also gather information about your family through telephone contact with you or face to face in a meeting with you. If another service is contacting the Early Help via Children’s Centres on your behalf, then they may share your details with us by secure email.

Your information may be shared with other agencies if we feel that you or your family would benefit by receiving coordinated services from partners and other teams within the council You will be notified if your information is being shared in this manner, and it will be your decision whether you wish to accept the additional services being offered.

If you have completed a membership form and have agreed to be contacted, then your children centre may email you with information on the services that are available.

We will upload information you provide to our computer systems so that we can manage the services we deliver to you and contact you when it is appropriate to do so. We will also record your attendance at an event at a children centre captured on the event sign in sheet so that we can report on the number of adults, children and young people using our service.

As mentioned above, it is our duty to collect this information to monitor how children centres and Early Help services are working to meet the needs of parents/carers who have children aged 0-19 years (25 for young people with SEND).

Who we share your information with

Your information will be held on our secure database system and will be shared with the services that support you. These include:

North Somerset Children’s Services including Early Help
Children’s centres
Social Work teams
Public Health teams such as Health Visitors
Department for Work and Pension Employment Advisors
Education partnerships

Any details recorded on our database will only be accessed by those working as part of Early Help via Children’s Centres for the purposes of supporting your family and monitoring the effectiveness of the services provided.

We only share sensitive personal data in limited circumstances - where we are required to do so by law or where it is necessary to fulfil our statutory obligations. This includes providing a range of public sector services for your health and social care, and the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults.

The sharing of personal data will include the linking of data sets held by the council, the NHS and other public sector partners, including Avon and Somerset Police, to comply with our statutory duties.

How long we keep your information

We will only keep your information for as long as is required by law and provide you with the necessary services in line with our retention schedule.

In general information related to Early Help via the Children’s Centre providing a service to the family, recorded data (family’s personal details and contact information) will be retained for up to six years from point of the last contact with the family concerned.

Your rights and access to your information

You have the right to request access to the information that we hold about you. The UK General Data Protection Regulation also gives you additional rights that refer to how the council holds and uses your information.

Consequently, under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

object to and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you
request to have your data deleted where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing and provided that there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it
request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
have your data transferred or copied should you move to another local authority area

Information about how you can submit a subject access request can be found on our subject access request pages.

You do not have to make a subject access request in writing; you may instead speak to a member of our staff.

How to contact us

If you have any questions or concerns about the way we process your personal data, our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DPO@n-somerset.gov.uk

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information.

If you are not satisfied with the council’s response you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The ICO helpline can be contacted via a webchat feature on the website or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

Finally, you can also contact the ICO in writing at:

Information Commissioner's Office - Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow, Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Changes in your information

You should notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details so we can maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.